Religion Blog

VATICAN CITY — Journalists from around the world packed the daily briefings, relishing the rare
opportunity to pose questions to the cardinals who will vote in the conclave to elect the next
pope. The sessions, led by U.S. cardinals, were a far cry from the elliptical approach favored by
the Vatican.

Yesterday, however, under pressure from their fellow cardinals, the Americans canceled their
news briefing and shut down all communication with the news media to address a different problem:
rampant leaks to the Italian news media in the delicate period of meetings before the conclave.

But the tensions over how to address the news media — with U.S.-style forthrightness or the
ancient and more-indirect ways of Italy — reflected a deeper culture clash between the Vatican as a
global church, and an Italian institution where secrecy is the rule but leaks often the norm.

Since Pope Benedict XVI’s retirement, the Vatican repeatedly has said that cardinals should not
be swayed by statements in the news media.